This is a large book, printed in rather small type and heavy with statistics, but enlivened by numerous anecdotes and elucidating charts as well as by lively descriptions of contemporary political personalities. It is not a model in annotations or in its scanty bibliography, which omits the pertinent books and monographs of several scholars in this field. Nor is it free from minor historical errors. Nevertheless, it should be read and reread cautiously by all who are interested in contemporary Latin America and should be assigned as required reading in college courses dealing with the history of South America since 1900.
Unfortunately the author fails to date his foreword or present a time schedule of his tour of inspection. Apparently he traveled by jet from New York to Brazil and then by air, for the most part, to Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela, in that sequence. He probably began his tour late in 1964 or early in 1965 and continued it for six months or more. The latest date revealed in the author’s narrative, probably written for the most part after his return from South America, is August 1966.
Although Gunther devotes some attention to historical background, his primary concern seems to have been a full portrayal of political, social, and economic change in the ten independent countries of South America since World War II, with decided emphasis upon the last two or three years of this period. If the space he devotes to each country may be assumed to indicate the author’s estimate of its importance, Brazil ranks first with 104 pages and Ecuador last with barely 14. Peru ranks second with 68 pages and the rest as follows in descending order: Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Or perhaps he employed some other criteria in his allotment of space, such as problems and progress in their solution, or significance in contemporary world affairs and the foreign policy of the United States.
He also includes four short chapters of generalization—and confuses the reader with some twenty pages of notes following his brief bibliography. These notes are presented chapter by chapter without specific references to his more than 527 pages of closely printed narrative, and often without such references to the magazines and books which he cites. He should have enrolled in a seminar in history or employed some young Ph.D. to assist him in his large task of annotation.
However, despite these faults, mostly of minor significance, John Gunther has produced an important book from which the cautious reader may profit and which almost any reader may enjoy. This reviewer cannot close his appraisal without congratulating Gunther and his publishers. His latest volume deserves a place in any bibliography dealing with contemporary South America.
